RBI Asks Banks To Provide Cardless Cash Withdrawal Facility At ATMs

The Reserve Bank on Thursday asked banks to provide the option of Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal (ICCW) at their ATMs, a move aimed at curbing frauds like skimming, card cloning and device tampering.

Currently, a few banks offer cardless cash withdrawals through ATMs for their customers at their ATMs (also known as an on-us basis).

"All banks, ATM networks and WLAOs (White Label ATM Operators) may provide the option of ICCW at their ATMs," the central bank said in a circular.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been advised to facilitate Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integration with all banks and ATM networks.

While UPI would be used for customer authorisation in such transactions, the settlement would be through the National Financial Switch (NFS) / ATM networks.

"The on-us/off-us ICCW transactions shall be processed without levy of charges other than those prescribed (on Interchange Fee and Customer Charges)," the RBI added.

Further, withdrawal limits for ICCW transactions will be in line with the limits for regular on-us/off-us ATM withdrawals.

The RBI said all other instructions related to harmonisation of turnaround time (TAT) and customer compensation for failed transactions would continue to be applicable.

In April, the RBI had said the absence of a need for a card to initiate cash withdrawal transactions would help contain frauds like skimming, card cloning and device tampering.

To encourage cardless cash withdrawal facilities across all banks and all ATM networks/operators, the RBI had proposed to enable customer authorisation through UPI. 

At the same time, settlement of such transactions would happen through the ATM networks.